Who would have thought?
by binx-349
Summary: She had hoped it would get easier as the weeks passed, yet the awkwardness still remained. Their relationship had always had it’s difficulties but it had never been as bad as it was at the moment. Secrets were there to make life difficult. [GSR]Set post B
1. Chapter 1

"Who would have thought?"

Disclaimer – Nope.. after all my birthday wishes.. still not mine.

A/N – I've done a bit of an overhaul on this story (yeah, I know I have about 3 stories going on at once ::slap wrist::) I have tried to sort out some of the major weaving plotlines, hopefully for the better. The other chapters will go back up as soon as I've sorted them out. Oh yeah, and this was my first fic so bare that in mind when you read it. Beware the clichés, they're everywhere!

The bodies lay sprawled on the tarmac, a dark pool of blood seeping out from beneath them. "This is a little unusual." muttered Brass as he lifted the crime scene tape and led the criminalists towards the two prone forms on the ground. Sara flicked her torch over the bodies arching an eyebrow and glancing at the two men by her side.

"I have come to learnt that nothing in this job is usual." Grissom passed an objective eye over the scene and came back to rest on the woman at his side. Their eyes met for a brief moment before dropping his gaze back to the scene before him.

"Has the coroner confirmed yet?" He aimed at Brass once more.

"Yeah about ten minutes ago. The guy is Richard Wiesman, 39. His drivers licence was in his jeans pocket. The horse was stabled here and is known as Willow. He is not the owner and we can't find out who is until we get a look at the books. The woman who found them also has livery here but not for long and says she doesn't know the vic. I'm hoping to speak with the owner of the horse and the stable manager within the next few hours."

Sara wandered over snapping on a pair of latex gloves as she went and crouched down beside the mans body.

"He doesn't really look like a rider.. he's not dressed for it." Sara said over her shoulder while still eyeing the man's awkwardly placed body, his arm seemed to be pinned underneath his body his head turned the opposite way . She quirked her head to the side slightly and pulling out a pair of forceps from her pocket she moved to collect a stray hair from the lapels of his jacket.

"Don't make any theories yet, just go with the evidence." Grissom had moved over to the body of the horse and was carefully taking a swab of some questionable substance he had found. Sara frowned, he was treating her like a rookie again for no good reason. She huffed a frustrated breath and turned away again.

She glanced down at the report in her hand frowning uncertainly.

"I'm surprised no one heard the shots. The farmhouse isn't far and this liver temp places his TOD as 7 hours ago. It would have been 5pm. Someone should have been about." Something caught Sara's eye as she said this, and her gaze shifted to the upturned bucket nearby. She carefully lifted the footprint she found on the bottom of the bucket and examined it briefly before placing it aside and standing to retrieve her camera and take photos.

"Mostly people have left by 5pm which is why he was only found when this woman went to lock-up. She thought she was the last person there." Brass stood a few feet away watching their progress.

Sara nodded in comprehension as Brass made his way over to the yellow tape to disperse the crowd of onlookers on the macabre scene. She glanced back over to where Grissom, seemingly oblivious, was staring in contemplation at the ground. Things had been so tense between herself and Grissom recently that she was surprised to be working alongside him at all tonight, she had been paired with just about anyone else for weeks. She had hoped it would get easier as the weeks passed, yet the awkwardness still remained. Their relationship had always had it's difficulties but it had never been as bad as it was at the moment.

The same old excuses again and again were starting to get stale. The age difference, sleeping with the boss, all made it a very bad idea. Sara knew all this and wasn't surprised by his reaction. It didn't mean she thought it was right and her feelings ran deeper than that, but his apparently did not. As he had said, his job was more important to him than she was, and that wasn't going to change. She had come to realise after all this that some things, and some people in this case, never change.

She peered under a pile of tack near the entrance finding a couple of bullet casings, bagging them expertly she sighed, and quickly muttered something about getting samples back to the lab before scuttling away from his watching eyes. It always seemed strange to her that despite everything she could still feel the same as she always had after everything that had happened.

Grissom simply arched an eyebrow at her hurried departure and continued collecting samples of a foreign soil from the floor.

"What have you got Al?" Grissom stood a couple of feet back eyeing the covered corpse. Sara had chosen not to be present for the autopsy which was an unusual preference for her. Normally she liked to be involved in every part of the investigation and it surprised him that she had asked to take the victims garments instead. He deigned to put this to the back of his mind and turned his attention back to the matter at hand.

Doc Robbins pulled the sheet back from the pallid body. "I can tell you your cause of death for this guy. Not too difficult. He was shot, twice. First one entered the abdomen through and through exit wound in the lower back and the second was the one that killed him, entry wound in the chest, I recovered the bullet from the spinal cord, he would have died instantly."

"Stippling around the entrance wound indicates that the killer must have been between 6 inches and 2 feet from our vic." Grissom stared intently at the wound before looking back at Robbins. "There must be a second bullet at that scene that we missed. I'll have to go back and have another look.

"The results from the Equine necropsy should be back to the lab by later tonight."

Robbins handed the bullet to Grissom and watched as he examined it and absently thanked him before leaving the morgue.

"Anytime" he called to his retreating back.

Sara was busily examining the victims clothes and personal effects. The swab she was passing over the jacket turned a bright blue. She yawned widely and placed it to the side as Catherine entered behind her.

"You could catch flies with that." Her opening comment surprised Sara who hadn't noticed her entrance and spun to face her. Nearly losing her balance as a wave of dizziness overcame her and she leaned heavily on the table.

"You should wear a bell or something, so people know you're coming." She muttered regaining her composure.

Catherine chuckled quietly. "A little on edge today are we."

"A little" Sara admitted. "I have a lot on my mind is all "

"So fill me in, days off make me out of the loop."

"Dead man, dead horse, both shot. He has GSR all over him, COD came back as bullet lodged in his spine. No real surprise there." She pointed in the vicinity of the other corner of the table. "You could get started on the footprint comparison if you need something to do. The vics shoes are over here and shoes from a couple of the stable hands."

It was not long before Catherine had her match. "Matches our vic. Wonder what he was standing on a bucket for? Seems odd."

Sara looked up from her microscope and shrugged. "Could be any one of a million reasons. I have to get these blood samples over to Greg. They're probably just this guys and the horse but you never know."

As she left Catherine watched her friend lean on the doorframe for a couple of seconds before leaving the room. Alarm bells were starting to ring in her head. That's the second time in a very short period of time she's done that. Some impulse in her made her decide to scrutinize a little further. She would have to keep an eye on her. She thought as she quickly returned to her assessment of the various shoes on the table in front of her. There didn't appear to be much in the way of trace evidence except the odd bit of manure and hay in the trainer treads. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Sara dropped the samples off to Greg, and not in the mood for his playful banter, quickly made her way to the locker room. Where she sat on the bench. Her elbows on the knees and head in her hands. She just needed the quiet to sort her head out. She spent what must have been 10 minutes admiring the lovely linoleum flooring before Catherine's entrance jerked her out of her reverie. Having seen Sara enter and not leave again curiosity getting the better of her Catherine had decided to investigate and check up on the younger CSI.

"You're not looking so good today. You feeling OK Sara?" Before she could get any kind of answer. Sara was up and halfway across the room before being violently sick in the sink. "I'm gonna take that as a no then." she muttered before putting the two Styrofoam cups of coffee on the side and making her way to the other side of the room. "Maybe you should go home."

Sara splashed some water on her face and turned back towards Catherine.

"Its ok. I'm fine." She replied grabbing a couple of paper towels and drying her face before checking herself momentarily in the mirror.

"You're obviously not fine or else you wouldn't be …"

Catherine trailed off as a new thought entered her head. She kept silent for a couple of seconds looking at Sara as if she were a piece of evidence herself.

"What?" Sara turned back towards her. "It's nothing, I probably ate something nasty. I just need to get home and have a good nights sleep." She walked right past Catherine and straight out the door. There was something so determined in her stride that the other CSI decided it was probably wise to leave her to it rather

than attempt to reason with her.

Catherine breathed out resigned at having to spend the rest of the night working with Sara who was obviously not on top form. Not the best way to spend the evening. She wandered off to see if she could find Grissom, maybe he would have more luck than her. She strongly doubted this considering the icy nature of their relationship at the moment, but it was a more appealing idea if it worked than having to put up with Sara for the night.

Grissom's office was empty when she arrived. She poked around at a few things on his desk for a moment, but stopped when she almost dislodged a pot of something apparently alive. That was something she really didn't want to have to clean up. She moved it gingerly further onto the table and left the office hurriedly.

Spotting Nick across the hall in layout she meandered in peering over his shoulder at the jacket he was examining wrinkling her nose slightly at the smell. It had evidently not been washed recently.

"Hey Nicky, you seen Grissom lately."

"He said he was just finishing up a few things over in autopsy and would be back within a half-hour. That was about ten minutes ago."

Catherine nodded and looked down at her watch briefly. "You about ready for a lunch break?"

"Give me ten minutes to wrap this up and I'll be there."

When Grissom returned to the lab it was surprisingly quiet. Most people seemed to have taken a lunch break for which he was quite glad. He was lucky to find Bobby was still over in ballistics and had apparently taken an earlier lunch that day.

"Got a present for you."

Bobby took the evidence bag and pulled out the bullet cautiously. "Looks like lead alloy bullet, it's pretty well in tact. These are the bullets that go with Sara's casing's right?"

"Which casings?" Grissom furrowed his brow into a frown and Bobby attempted to amend the situation slightly. He had noted the thinly veiled anger in his supervisors features and hoped vainly that he hadn't made things worse for Sara with that comment.

"She uh, left them with me earlier, from your horse-man murder." Bobby paused before continuing in the hope he might be distracted a little. "Probably from a high calibre weapon, a 32. I think, I might be able to narrow it down some more once I've looked a bit closer. Just give me an hour or so and I'll run it through IBIS, see if we get any hits from there."

Grissom nodded tersely and marched out of the lab. Bobby bit his lip cringing slightly, he wondered if perhaps he should page Sara and give her some sort of warning. She was not in for a fun night.


	2. Chapter 1 point 5

Ch 1.5 – 

A/N – I'm sort of stretching this story as I improve it, hence the chapter 1.5 It makes more sense in my head than re-numbering all the chapters on my computer.

As it turned out Bobby decided against a warning. Sara - unaware of the coming tirade - was still going over the man's clothing. She had yet to turn up anything of significance, and although she was no longer feeling ill, her mood was definitely not what anyone would describe as happy. When Greg had come to ask her if she wanted lunch she had all but bitten his head off and sent him away with his metaphorical tail between his legs. On occasion she found his company amusing, today was not one of those days.

Grissom rounded the corner and spotting Sara with her head down, all but stormed over to her. He stood watching her silently for several moments. Sara could almost feel the waves of anger wash off him. She stopped what she was doing and even though she didn't look up she could tell that she had annoyed him without even moving. Swallowing convulsively she looked to the side without meeting his eyes in a deliberate 'what do you want' gesture.

She wasn't sure why she was provoking him, it was something that she normally avoided but today something snapped in her. His treatment of her was bordering on emotional abuse, and she was sick of it. This was the closest she could get to a rebellion without getting herself fired. There was no way this would get on the departmental radar, he couldn't risk his job like that. Their friendship was effectively ruined already, so what did she have to lose now? He had ruined any chance of repairing it when he left. Treating things as if they didn't happen was not a way to get around the problems they caused. Sara was finding this out the hard way.

"Did you forget to mention to me about those casings by any chance?" His voice was icy and Sara was seriously regretting her decision to ratchet up the tension. This was not going to end well. Not telling him about the casings was not an intentional faux-pas. She has just been distracted by other things. Grissom being one of those things. A detail which annoyed her most of all. What it all came down to was that this was at least partly his fault and she desperately needed someone to pin blame on for her predicament. He seemed very much the best choice of contributor.

"I hadn't seen you yet to update you on the situation. I was going to bring you the results once Bobby was done." She had to fight to keep the tremble out of her voice.

"That's really not the point. I should be getting updates as soon as they occur, from you! I should not be having to hear them second hand from Lab. techs."

"I did what I could at the time, I couldn't find you so I went ahead and got the evidence processed to save time." Sara got up and deposited the shirt deftly back into the evidence bag and sealing it carefully. "Normally you don't mind us doing our jobs, or maybe this is just about me." The challenge in her voice was palpable.

Grissom chose to ignore the obvious in the comment, although his jaw clenched noticeably. Sara had all the information that she would need for blackmail, if it ever came down to that. She knew that she would never use it against him. But the threat was always there and it kept him from saying anything more.

"Is there anything else you've failed to update me on?" He made a somewhat futile attempt at keeping the edge out of his voice.

"Not that I know of." She snapped back, picking up the bag and walking out of the door.

Catherine drawn as usual by raised voices, or anything that might represent gossip, watched the entire scene with amazement. Whatever was going on between the two of them, they normally kept whatever it was away from work. When it started to overflow into the lab then was the time to worry. Warrick let out a low whistle from her side. "What was that all about?"

Catherine shrugged with a bemused look. "Honestly? I have no idea." Her mind was working in overtime, she and Gil were going to have to have a little chat. He had obviously not taken her 'get your head out of the microscope' speech the right way. People were going to start talking if he kept that up. She watched him storming out of the room moments after Sara and locking himself into his office.

Catherine decided for the time being to go after the slightly easier target that was Sara. She was still one of the most private people she knew but compared to Gil, getting a straight answer out of her would be a piece of cake. Grissom would probably just tell her to butt out of his life, probably worded rather differently, but the gist would be the same. She would try and work on him if she got no joy from Sara's end.

She found Sara in the locker room again leaning her forehead heavily against the lockers on the right hand side.

"You Okay."

"As can be expected." a mumbled reply was all the response that Catherine gained.

"That was quite a display for you two. " Sara remained silent giving her a sideways look. "You want to talk about it?"

"No."

"I know he can be an ass, but that wasn't all about him. What's gotten into you?"

Sara mumbled something almost incomprehensible, that Catherine could have sworn sounded like 'him', before pushing away against the lockers. She

Sara blinked rapidly and putting her hand to her head. Catherine took hold of her arm to steady her and she dropped gratefully onto the bench nearby. She scrutinised Sara for several moments, putting several things together.

She took a deep breath before she spoke. "Sara, are you pregnant?" she asked quietly not really expecting an answer. The quiet release of breath and distracted running of her hands through her hair told her all she needed to know. "Have you taken a test?"

"I don't need to. It doesn't take a genius to work this out." She waved her hand at herself absent-mindedly leaning against the side-rail of the bench.

"You should take it anyway, you know that. You need to know for sure."

"I've been avoiding that for weeks. I'm still in the stages of denial and you know what? I really like it there." Sara was now intently examining her fingers and avoiding the eye of the older woman. Catherine put her hands over Sara's shaking ones as she lifted her head to look into her eyes. Catherine could see the fear and uncertainty in her gaze.

"You should go home."

Sara gave her an assenting nod and dropped her head forward in defeat. "It's the middle of shift, I cant go anywhere." She pointed out.

"Don't worry, I'll tell Gris you're not feeling well and then I'm taking you home, you can't drive like this. Its entirely the truth and he can't tell me not to when you're getting dizzy like this. Come on."

Sara pushed open the door to her apartment and waved a vague hand at the sofa in the centre of the room. "You want a coffee or something?"

"How about I get us both some coffee and you go and take that test. Stop procrastinating. Its better to get it over with." Catherine took the bag from the counter, placed it in Sara's unwilling hands and putting a hand in the small of her back gently pushed her in the direction of the bathroom. "I'll see you in a minute ok."

Sara began what appeared to be a death march towards the bathroom. Anxiously twisting the bag between her hands. The nervous gesture spoke volumes and Catherine couldn't help but find her heart going out to the younger CSI. Whoever the father was he was evidently not anything serious or they would have heard something about him. A single parent herself Catherine knew only too well the difficulties, and couldn't help feel for her friends predicament.

She took the time while Sara was gone to give the room a quick once over. In all the years she had worked with Sara she had never actually been to her apartment. It was a comfortable home, not what she had expected. She had a vision of a Grissom-like existence of stainless steel, not the feminine vibe she got from here. The room was quite dark but had a cosy feel caused by the throws and cushions spread around the daybed and chairs. She fished around for coffee in the kitchen. The girl sure had a lot of caffeine.

Sara returned just a few minutes later, this time fiddling with the test itself.

"I haven't felt any desire to look at it just yet." Catherine gave a sympathetic nod and took a sip from her coffee as Sara sat beside her. "I don't know anything about kids. I'll be a mess." She mused quietly staring wide eyed at the unread test on the table in front of her.

"You're good with Lindsey. Once you have one of your own you get the hang of it pretty quick." Catherine was getting the gist from this conversation that if she really was pregnant she would be keeping the baby, and in a way the thought relieved her a little. "You have to find out for sure first though you know."

Sara seemed to stop breathing at this point and stared at the table in from of her she slowly turned the test over and let out a long breath. "Its positive." She paused. "Not like I wasn't expecting that anyway" There was another loaded pause and Catherine glanced back at the woman beside her.

"You going to tell the father then?" Catherine was digging for information in what she hoped was a subtle gesture.

"I… he's going to find out eventually. I just really don't know how I'm going to tell him."

Catherine gave her a sideways glance which was returned by a 'don't-even-think-about-asking' look from Sara. Catherine arched her eyebrows briefly and returned her stare to her steaming mug of coffee instead, realising there was little more she was going to get out of her on the subject. "I'll tell him when it's necessary, not before. He doesn't need to know just yet." Sara muttered staring at some undistinguishable point in the distance. Her mind appeared to be elsewhere for the moment. Probably somewhere in panic mode, Catherine knew she would be in the same situation.

Catherine gave her a concerned look. "You should arrange a doctors appointment or something." Sara's mind was still clearly elsewhere and Catherine feeble attempts to bring her back to reality were falling woefully short of their intended success. "Maybe I should leave you for a while, get some rest. But call me of you need anything."

Catherine picked up her bag from the floor and turned as she reached the doorway to take a last look at her friend worry etched in her features as she watched Sara who was still deep in thought apparently attempting to outstare the wall opposite her.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - 

Disclaimer – Not mine just borrowed.

A/N – Updates will probably come a lot slower now as I go back to college in a few days. I have to do some actual work this semester, so I'm cutting way back on the writing. It comes second to my exams unfortunately.

Thank you so much for all your feedback. I still say you guys are way too nice to me and I hope not to disappoint if I can help it.

Catherine made her way back to the lab as slowly as she could reasonably manage. She was hoping to delay the inevitable reprimand that would come her way from Grissom. She had known him way too long to find him particularly intimidating unlike some of the labs younger employees. But he could quite easily put both Sara and herself on decomps for the foreseeable future, which was not a pleasant thought.

She had left a very much abbreviated message for Grissom on his desk when he had gone out to talk to Greg about the DNA samples. She had kept it simple, and then immediately turned her cell off. She knew she would probably turn it back on to find a myriad of messages asking where the hell she had been. The idea of now having to explain her whereabouts was not especially appealing.

In the end Sara never bothered to go to her room that night sleep seemed to be evading her despite how tired she was. Her thoughts rattled around in her head and would not let her get any rest. She just kept imagining his response. He'd never struck her as the child-loving type; although Lindsey was the only one she had ever seem him around, and he always seemed fairly comfortable around her.

Having said that she had never thought of herself as coping very well with children and yet with the thought of her own felt she was very slowly coming round to the idea. She was still scared to death, but then again who wouldn't be. The fact that it was his gave her a vaguely satisfied feeling, that even if he didn't want her she still had some part of him to keep with her. In an odd way this thought made her feel a little safer. It seemed strange to her to feel this way, but she comforted herself in the fact that he need never know. That was one of many thoughts that she was not about to share with anyone.

The thought of his reaction just made her nervous. Maybe she could claim insanity and that it was someone else's, or just leave permanently and save herself the trouble of having to lie to his face. Lying to him was not something she was good at, and she could almost visualise him seeing through it immediately. But something stopped her from filling out the resignation slip, maybe it was the kind of perverse pleasure she would get from seeing his first reaction when it became too obvious to hide, because that was the only time she intended on telling him. It would be impossible for her to bring it up herself. Some things are just better left unsaid.

Sara gingerly pushed herself up from her sofa and stretched out the many kinks that sleeping there had caused in her back. Slowly she made her way to the kitchen to find herself a glass of water and an aspirin for her headache. Her lack of sleep was taking its toll, and her only hope was that she could get some kind of decent rest before shift began. Falling asleep at a crime scene would not be a good way of mending things the boss.

Taking a firm hold of her water and heading towards her bedroom to at least attempt a decent rest even though there was no way she thought she was actually going to get any sleep. It seemed a futile gesture but necessary nonetheless.

Catherine all but tip-toed past Grissom's office, hoping to be able to get back to what she had been doing without Grissom noticing. This kind of defeated the point of leaving him a note, but she wasn't really thinking about that by this point. She was shocked out of her sneaky entrance by a voice from the door to her right. Trust him not to actually be in his office when she thought he was.

"Catherine, what is this?" She grimaced silently and spun back towards layout. He didn't look angry anymore for which she was glad. Giving him time to cool down had probably been a wise idea. He now simply looked tired. He was holding her note up towards her and rubbing his forehead distractedly with the other hand. She got the sense he had a migraine coming on.

"I just took Sara home, she's been ill all shift and I didn't trust her driving on her own."

She saved digging into him over the earlier scene for another time. There was no use in making his headache worse than it would already be. Catherine turned to walk back out of the door, "you should go home too, you don't look so great." Grissom frowned at her and went back to his office to rummage in his drawer for his medication.

Something about Sara's sudden illness didn't sit well with him. He didn't think she was the type to shirk her work over a disagreement, yet something just didn't seem right. He had been so distracted by the idea of Sara taking off sick, that he hadn't even thought to ask what was wrong with her. Catherine was obviously not in the sharing mood, as she would normally have given him more details than that. He made a mental note to ask her about it before the end of shift, meanwhile he attempted to bore himself with some paperwork while he waited on Bobby's bullet analysis.

Grissom ended up going home late from shift as usual. Catherine it seemed was avoiding him, that was one mystery he was going to have to leave for later. Bobby however did come back with a ballpark make of gun, just minutes before he was intending to go home. It was another coincidence, one which was very telling of his luck at the moment.

"I checked up on the stria on your bullet. Six lands and grooves which twist to the right. It looks like a Browning. I can't isolate it anymore than that with any certainty." Bobby sent him an apologetic smile. "I ran it through IBIS, it didn't spit anything out, so it was probably a first time offender." He left fairly quickly after his explanation to avoid any repercussions, leaving Grissom to examine the bullet himself, before adding it to his own case notes, and eventually going home.

Brass found Grissom in his office right at the start of the next shift. "I had a little chat with the stable manager. He has a viable alibi, he was up in Laughlin with some family all day, they have all confirmed that. He was very helpful, gave me complete access to all the stable registers and financial information. They have a signing in/out system so that the last person or people back in after a hack in the evening has responsibility to lock-up."

"Responsibility is shared, it's an interesting concept." Grissom murmured and looked up at Brass for the first time from the notes on his desk.

"People have liability for their own horses, but if someone doesn't lock-up they know exactly where to put the blame if someone's horse goes missing."

"Do you have any other suspects, wife, girlfriend anyone else who might have known him well?"

"His wife is being brought in as we speak. I thought you might enjoy an interrogation for the evenings entertainment." Grissom smiled flipping his folder closed and going to follow the detective.

Jeanette Wiesman sat uncomfortably at the metal table in the centre of the room. Her hands were clenched in front of her and she was twisting her wedding ring in an agitated gesture. Her brown hair was just beginning to show signs of grey. It fell in limp waves across her face. She was dressed quite casually and only her body language gave away how much the situation unnerved her. To the average onlooker she would have seemed perfectly calm, like she was going to get her hair cut rather than being part of a criminal investigation.

"So, Mrs Wiesman, " Brass began.

"It's Jean." She shifted uncomfortably in her seat following Brass' pacing with her eyes. "You want to ask me about Rich I guess."

"Well Jean, You guessed right, Anything you want to tell us before we get started?" Brass ceased his pacing to watch her reaction for anything tell tale in her response.

"I don't think so." He was disappointed, not a flicker.

"So, what did you know about your husband's whereabouts?"

"Not much… Look I'll be frank with you, we didn't have the best marriage in a lot of ways." She snorted in a distinctly unladylike fashion "He could have been in Timbuktu for all I knew." She added with a wry smile.

Brass gave a customary disbelieving look, "You mean to say, you didn't know he went to the livery stables?"

"I didn't say that, I just said I didn't know where he was before he died."

"Isn't that picking straws a little." Grissom finally decided to add his input, be it only a short shot.

"You might want to look at work for information about him, they probably knew far more than I ever did about his, uh, extra-curricular activities." She gave the two men a dry smile and got up to leave. "I don't think there is much more I can tell you."

As soon as she had left the room Grissom turned to Brass. "We should go to their house, take a look around. I'll send someone out to talk to the people at his work and process his workstation."

"He worked at an insurance firm about 20 minutes from his home 'LTS Insurance'. In what has to be the dullest job on the planet. Lots of paperwork, can you imagine." He shuddered light-heartedly and opened the door, following Grissom out into the corridor.

He entered the break room to find most of the team waiting on him. Sara was sat in a chair at the head of the table. He assumed she must be better, and had to wonder briefly about her speedy recovery, before he moved onto the nights workload.

"Nick, Catherine could you head over the vic's place of work for me. His workspace will need processing and if you could start interviewing some of the other staff it would be a big help. Warrick, his home needs processing look for anything out of the ordinary, I have his phone records but we'll need to take a look at the possibility of a financial motive.

He then turned to the last person left without an assignment.

"Sara I need you on B&E in Summerlin."

He knew as soon as the words left his mouth that he had just shoved his foot straight into their place. Her earlier benign expression immediately creased with a heavy frown. She was silent for a moment formulating some sort of reasonable response.

"It was our case to start with, wh- … Never mind, you know what, I don't care." She snagged the slip from between his fingers and walked off without a backwards glance. He knew instinctively he had just made things worse, it was pretty glaringly obvious. He had thought that perhaps after her illness yesterday she might appreciate an easy open and shut case, but apparently not. Thinking about it with he should have known better than to assume, with Sara you could honestly never be sure how she would take it.

His mood was not enhanced by Catherine's parting comment.

"That was not a smooth move. I think we need to have a little chat later."

When Catherine made statements like that, it generally meant an incursion into his private life. A subject on which he was not comfortable discussing. She was also not the kind of woman not follow up and make sure that said conversation actually happened. Not that he did much of the talking in these situations. She supplied most of the conversation, and was usually uncomfortably spot on with her observations- and advice when she deemed it necessary to intervene. She had after all done it before. It was an odd talent she had for reading people and situations, as he had always said, she was the 'people person' and as much as he had his own questions to ask her, he was not looking forward to this "little chat". Not one bit.


	4. Chapter 2 point 5

Chapter 2.5 – 

Much as Nick admired Grissom's skills as a CSI, he was not at all happy about his treatment of Sara, which he perceived to be getting worse by the day. She was a close friend and his supervisor's handling of the entire situation was poor. Nick could see how much his behaviour hurt her and had the irrepressible urge to go and 'sort him out'. Probably not the way to ensure job security.

He had watched the display in the break room along with everybody else and had already heard about their spat of the day before from one of the lab techs. Something was going on between them again that was making it worse. He could only hope that they both got over it. The timing could not be worse. They had all heard about Sara's near DUI, and although no one had been stupid enough to say anything to her, it was obvious that things had been going downhill for a while. This was not what she needed right now. What she needed was stability, support, the things that it seemed no one was capable of providing.

Everyone in the lab knew that Grissom and Sara had a past, although no one had ever dared to ask either of them what it was. Rumours had been abound when she had first been called in. Grissom's one time student brought in on a whim. Discussion over the grapevine had always been that they were at one point involved. Grissom sleeping with one of his students? Nick had always been sceptical about that suggestion. Their whole relationship struck him as very much unresolved, and he theorised, that was probably the problem. It was on days like today that he very much wished he could tell Grissom to get over himself. He always held the comments back, he didn't want to end up on Grissom's hit list along with Sara. If he thought going up to bat for her would help in the slightest he would. But the chances were it would just make it all worse. He knew Sara well enough to know she would not be impressed with his assessment of what she considered her business and no one else's.

He dragged himself out of his musings as he drew up to the victims house. In a way he was glad he was here alone, it gave him time to think without interruptions.

It was your average sub-urban bungalow, nicely looked after and of a reasonable size, probably three bedrooms he would estimate. He grabbed his kit from the back of the Tahoe, double checked the house number and knocked on the door. It was answered just a few moments later by Jean Wiseman balancing a young child on her hip. Nick was quite surprised at the speed of her response.

"I saw you from the lounge window" she said by way of a greeting. She waved him into the house offered him a cup of tea which he declined and told him to look at whatever was necessary.

He found three pairs of the vic's shoes in the closet which appeared to have manure in the treads, he obviously went to the stables more than once. Only one pair of the wife's shoes had any signs of the same, which lead him to believe that she had lied about at least one thing. She had been to the scene. That might actually get them another interview, and now they had some ammunition to hit her with. He smiled to himself and stood up rapidly thwacking his head on the shelf of the closet as he went. He glared at said projection, rubbing his head gingerly.

He then briefly ran his hand across the offending shelf, he hadn't noticed it there before. There were several boxes pushed to the back on the shelf. He then turned his attention back to the main part of the room. There was more likely to be incriminating evidence somewhere that actually looked like it had been touched in the past few months.

Warrick and Catherine were just drawing up to the victim's place of work. It was a large grey building, very generic. They were directed to the third floor and after a quiet elevator ride found themselves face to face with the grumpiest looking woman they had seen in a while. That was saying something in their job. She had evidently been forewarned by the secretary on the desk downstairs. Her greeting was not particularly warm and once formality was over she immediately went on the offensive.

"I can't allow you complete access, customer confidentiality. You can talk to whoever you like and have access to most of his personal effects but his clients files must be kept classified. I'm sorry."

"We understand that." Warrick acquiesced. His central thought at the time was, wait 'til we have the warrant, but he didn't voice it.

If they were honest it really wasn't a fruitful search, he didn't seem to have much of a personal nature at work. They got hold of his laptop and readied to take it back to Archie in the lab. He could see what he could find on it.

They spoke with various colleagues. His secretary was particularly helpful in pointing out his many indiscretions and pointing them towards his latest mistress a bible touting woman who ran this floor of the building.

"Damn, We have to go talk to that woman again. Why would he sleep with her anyway?" murmured Warrick, on realising exactly who it was she was referring to.

Her highly religious attitude had found her at the centre of many topical arguments and it seemed that she had few friends in the building other than the victim. It didn't take long to inform Brass and get her in for interrogation.

There was no physical evidence of her presence at the scene so nothing could be done.

They had come to a complete dead end. Before any headway could be made they needed to find the weapon which was easier said than done.

Sara had finished processing her B&E and so ended up following up on the interrogation of Mary Hughes, while everyone else was still out at their respective scenes.

The woman was decidedly subdued, nothing of the hostility that Catherine and Warrick had witnessed was forthcoming, and eventually Sara had to admit she wasn't gleaning any additional information. She didn't have a very good alibi but there was nothing to hold her on. So she had to admit defeat in the end. Sara had to wonder why such a religious woman was sleeping with a married man.

Shift seemed to come round way to fast for all of the CSI's that night. Sara had got very little sleep and even Nick and Warrick weren't their usual cheery selves. Their case didn't appear to be getting anywhere very fast.

Sara sat in the break room catching up on the latest forensic journal which she had neglected to read the previous night. Her concentration was not really on it and she was in fact rather relieved of the distraction when Nick and Catherine entered discussing the merits of some new gadget that Warrick wanted for the lab and whether then might actually persuade the department to buy it. They poured a cup of coffee each and made their way to sit with Sara at the far end of the table.

Nick eyed his friend and took in her pale features and the bags beneath her eyes. "You look tired you really should get more sleep Sar." Catherine gave her a meaningful look reiterating his words with some choice ones of her own. "I'm fine" she snapped "I'm a little pre-occupied, maybe, but its nothing for any of you to worry about."

Grissom entered with Warrick close behind, Sara clammed up instantly her eyes locking with his. Catherine watched the subtle emotions on his face and Sara's stony look. Having know him as long as she had she knew there was more to their relationship but had never questioned it much, what she had asked had been rebuffed. Whatever went on between them was evidently way to complicated for anyone else to understand, but she suddenly felt there was at least one thing she thought she might finally be understanding, and her jaw dropped slightly. That was something else she might have to mention when she talked to him. She quickly regained her composure and started questioning him about the latest on their case.

"The results from the equine necroscopy came back a little while ago. Cause of Death was as expected, the same as the man, bullet wound. It just bled out. The unusual thing they found was the presence of semen." Grissom took in the confused looks before repeating himself a little more clearly. "Human, semen."

Catherine's creeped out look said it all. "Wh- …do I even want to ask for an explanation for that?"

"There is a few people who like to have sex with animals, they find it particularly arousing." Nick gave an apologetic look and a weak smile. "I watch too much discovery channel as y'all have mentioned before."

"It's not so much the amount you watch, as the nature of the stuff you do watch that's worrying me right now." Warrick gave his friend a teasing glance and walked back to the table putting his fresh cup of coffee down on the table.

Sara who had remained apparently quietly disgusted at the state of humanity immediately stood up muttered an apology and raced out of the room with her hand over her mouth. The remainder of the group watched her departure with more than a little confusion and concern. "Since when has Sara been squeamish, that's just not like her." Nick questioned his eyes still watching the doors she had just departed through.

"Does someone want to go check on her?" said Grissom looking pointedly towards Catherine who returned his glance with one meaningful one of her own and quietly got up from her seat.

"Fine, I'll go check on her. I'll be back in a minute." She muttered.

As Catherine entered the bathroom she was greeted by the sight of Sara splashing water on her face, the scene was giving her a distinct sense of deja-vu. "You're going to have to tell him eventually. He has every right to know."

"It wont let it interfere with my work so there's no need to say anything yet." Sara replied distractedly.

"There's more to it than that and I know it."

Sara breathed out shook her head and lowered it a little rubbing the back of her neck in a agitated gesture. "Its really none of your business. I'll sort it out myself when I feel ready."

"Just… at least get yourself a doctors appointment." said Catherine as a parting shot. Sara groaned slightly realising her secret was out and if she didn't do something Catherine might just take it out of her hands. She was not known for her secret-keeping skills.

Catherine re-entered the Break room with inquisitive looks from the men inside. "She's fine, She'll be back in a minute" Her abrupt manner prevented any questions and everyone turned to Grissom when he cleared his throat to draw the attention back.

"Well, as I was saying, I looked up a little about these 'zoophiles' There is a big ethical debate over whether it is wrong or not. Greg has started matching up the DNA to see if our vic was one" Greg nodded and put his sandwich back down on the table.

"Might give us motive. Involvement in something this ethically disputed is bound to cause friction." Nick looked towards Grissom for some kind of assent, but he didn't appear to be paying much attention anymore and had returned his head to the file before him.

Greg shrugged. "I know we're supposed to be impartial an' all, but this is just downright creepy." He dropped his meal back into the fridge. "I'll get to work on those samples. I should have preliminary results back by late tomorrow, definitive results might be several days. I'll try to push it through ASAP."

"Meanwhile the wife is coming in for further questioning tomorrow so you guys can go home if you need. We can't work on anything much until we're sure of some things, the DNA results and a chat with the wife should be illuminating." Grissom looked up to see Sara re-enter the room. She still looked pale but better than she had before. Not that it took much for an improvement on earlier, she was obviously still not entirely better.


	5. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – 

Disclaimer – Not mine, just borrowed.

A/N – I'm a little nervous about this chapter, I think it's just because it's so long for me. It's to make up for the fact that I'm back at college now so it might be the last update for a while.

I will get round to altering the aspirin thing, a couple of you mentioned that, so thanks to you. I should really do some more research on pregnancy health etc. I think that my friends might start to think there's something I'm really not telling them. I'm not sure I really feel like trying to fend off those kinds of questions! :D

Sara's re-entry to the Break room was met with concerned looks from the men, Catherine just watched her with a certain knowing gleam in her eyes. In an attempt to divert the impending questions she asked for an immediate update on the case, and sat down heavily beside Cath, who surreptitiously moved her cup of coffee a little further away; just in case. She didn't want to send Sara bolting for the bathroom again. It was difficult to know what set her off.

"Well, Greg has just gone to get started on samples, we should have the results back by next shift. He's a little bogged down at the moment what with training this new girl and running the samples left over from a busy swing shift." Warrick told her. "He's going to put a rush on it but we don't expect anything back too quickly."

"Well then would it be ok if I took off a little early, I'm sure you can handle a few hours without me an-." The looks of disbelief gained from the rest of the room silenced her for a moment. The idea of Sara taking time away from the lab voluntarily was definitely not a common one. "Is that ok?" she asked once more.

The only responses she gained from the rest of the group was assorted nods and worried glances. "Guys please stop worrying. I'm just a not feeling so great is all. I'll see you tomorrow." Before leaving a quiet room behind her. Going home early was definitely not normal Sara behaviour.

Catherine wandered into Grissom's office just ten minutes later. She unlike Sara -whose habitual spot was on the fringes, by the door – made herself entirely comfortable in the chair opposite his desk looking like she was there for the long stay.

Grissom looked up, mentally bracing himself for the personal intrusion that was sure to follow. While her chats often galvanised him into action, it didn't mean he particularly wanted one right now. He knew just what was coming.

"I'm pretty sure you know exactly why I'm here." He wondered silently if he should add 'mind reader' to the list of her talents. She continued to tell him anyway- without any qualms- exactly why they were having that conversation. He interspersed some acknowledging noises until Catherine finally asked him the one question he found he could not answer with a gesture or a sound.

"SO, What are you going to do about it then?" He had been telling Sara the truth when he said he didn't know. He still didn't know. His bad judgement had already got him in enough mess as it was so he answered as truthfully as he was able.

"Nothing." Catherine looked at him with disbelief. What was he thinking? Getting sick of his monosyllabic responses her eyes glittered menacingly as she stood up.

"You've been doing nothing for too long already. Think of something Gil." She ordered before walking right out of his door. He sighed, he knew she was right, when wasn't she.

It had taken all his self-control to walk away when he did. He wasn't about to drag her back into it after putting her through that. It would ruin her career, let alone his if anything ever got out. The risks were there, to both of them, there were more reasons than just the job, that he would have loved to be able to ignore, there were some things that he could not change. He had to keep reminding himself of this just to stop himself from running right back to her. To where everything had seemed to right, even if it was only for a short time.

When Sara returned home at about 7am after collecting a few bits of shopping she made herself some toast put on a CD and sat quietly on the sofa where she seemed to have spent most of her time over the last two days and munched her way through the toast, her stomach didn't feel ready for anything more right now.

She picked herself up again about 5 minutes later and searched her sideboard for her organiser to find her GP's number and organise an appointment for later that morning. It was only a couple of hours later she found herself leaving her apartment once more on the way to her first doctors appointment. She was surprised he had managed to fit her in so quickly, but she wasn't complaining, the sooner she got this over with, the happier she would be.

The nerves were really starting to kick in as she turned her car into the hospital car-park. The time in spent sat in a waiting room full to the brim of chattering women was not making her comfortable. She felt horribly out of place It seemed to take forever before her name was called by the nurse on duty.

She seated herself on the edge of the bed and twiddled her fingers for a few seconds before the doctor entered.

"Good morning Miss Sidle, I'm Doctor Hyatt- Williams. This is your first check-up I believe." He handed what seemed to be a phone-book sized pack of leaflets to her and turned around to find something from a drawer in the cabinet behind him. Asking a plethora of routine questions about everything from her last period to her lifestyle, not all of which she was particularly comfortable with, but she was starting to realise that nothing about this would be comfortable.

He checked her blood pressure giving a little 'mm' at the results. "You're a little high. Do you do anything stressful? your job maybe." Sara smiled grimly.

"Uh, you could say that I guess." Sara loved her job but it wasn't exactly conducive to good mental wellbeing. Lord knew she'd had the 'burn-out' speech from Grissom enough times over the years.

"Mmm, well you're going to have to learn to relax, maybe think about talking to your boss about cutting back on your hours or something. You're also a rather underweight for your height which can be detrimental. You should keep an eye on that. It's not good for you or your baby. "

Sara's eyes widened, it was the first time someone had actually referred to it as 'her baby', it was a scary thought. She was still nowhere near dealing with this on an emotional level. She had thought about it, yes, but more in terms of reactions to her pregnancy, than the thought of her with a baby. It was still not an idea she was ecstatic about yet. In fact, it freaked her out on a fundamental level. She was left with the thought she was going to have to do some serious research. This was going to take some time to get used to. She nodded absently to his question and was immediately transported back to the uncomfortable subject of telling Grissom, she was definitely not feeling ready for that yet.

The doctor handed her another bundle of forms which she took in with one shocked glance.

"Ugh… I hate paperwork." She muttered under her breath. This was greeted by a slight

chuckle from the doctor as he went about removing a needle and syringe and taking her blood.

"I know it's early, but I'm going to do an ultrasound because of your blood pressure." He gave her a reassuring smile. "It's just precautionary. "

"Ok, now if you'll just lie down a minute, roll up your top and undo the top button of your jeans for me." He gently squirted a little of the gel on to her currently flat stomach and ran the scanner over her flesh. Probing gently until he found what he was looking for. "Oh, there you are." He prodded for a couple more seconds before continuing "everything looks fine to me. I'll have to take a few measurements, but from the information you've given me you're about 10 weeks along it's about 3inches long by these measurements. You're quite late for a first check-up, most women get an appointment as soon as they even suspect."

Sara had almost zoned out the doctors lecture about the do's and don'ts. She looked at the screen for a few moments, she could make out arms, legs even fingers to a certain extent. It was a scary thought. It was real.

She was jerked out of her thoughts roughly when she heard the words 'no more coffee.' She gave him a horrified glance at which he nodded smiling at her dismay perceptively. She bit her lip nervously, how was she going to manage pulling doubles without a regular dose of caffeine. It was then the thought of his previous words about a cut down in hours. It was then she realised that she was going to have to make a lot of changes. Starting with a overhaul on her entire lifestyle, this was not going to be easy.

He carefully cleaned the gel from her stomach with a paper towel and handed her another bunch of leaflets along with a printout of her scan. During the appointment she had said very little. But now she had left the hopeless feeling she had felt as she had entered had been replaced by a certain guarded optimism. Being a single parent was never going to be perfect but she was feeling better about it than she had before, all she had to do now was tell Grissom. If she could work up the courage that was. She was having a baby with a man who didn't even know, she would have to at least try.

Catherine was just about to question the wife again. The manure on her shoes had given them enough reason to question her statement. Brass met her outside the room snagging her elbow before she entered. "I think I should tell you before we go in there about the information I dug up, Miss Religion. Owns a gun. A Browning at that."

"So you don't think the wife?"

"Tag team maybe? She tried to pin the blame, or she just lied about being at the stables." Brass shrugged mildly and gestured to Catherine to enter the room.

She paused and screwed her eyes up in confusion. "If she's so religious, why the hell does she own a gun?"

Grissom was sat in his office with a large pile of paperwork that seemed to stay the same size however long he worked. He had accounted this to the fact he had no concentration that night and wasn't actually doing anything productive. It had been a few hours since shift had ended and yet as usual he was still there. He heard a gentle cough from the doorway and looked up surprised to see Sara stood leaning against the door frame.

He looked back down to the paper in his hand trying desperately to disguise the leap in his heart he felt every time he saw her and swallowed slowly. Her brown eyes seemed to be boring into him and the temperature in the room seemed to fall with the additional tension even though neither had said a word. "I thought you went home Sara." Was what he settled with in the end.

This situation reminded him of one just a year before, one he had regretted since it had happened. It had added a new level of discomfort to their already strained relationship and it seemed to Grissom that since then things had gotten exponentially more complex and it was partly his fault. He had given in to his impulses but knew that if he didn't back away quickly he wouldn't be able to. He knew he had hurt her but his feeling was that it was necessary and probably better in the long run although it didn't feel like it at the moment. It was becoming more difficult to concentrate on anything that resembled comprehensible thought.

"I did. Then I came back…. I need to talk to you."

"Well then, come in." he replied. Waving a hand at the seat opposite him.

"Not here. Could we go somewhere else? " Sara asked nervously twirling her hands and attempting to hide the fear she felt was showing all over her face. This was turning out to be far more difficult than she had anticipated.

There was a long pause while he formulated an answer. "I don't think that would be a good idea."

"You say that a meal is a bad idea, yet you follow through with things that would be on your terms a far worse idea." Sara said eyes glinting angrily in the dim light of the office.

"Sara this isn't the place." He replied calmly still trying to look anywhere but her afraid of the anger he would find if he looked in her eyes.

"You think I don't know that. Why do you think I want to go somewhere else." A harsh note was apparent in her voice which dared him to look at her.

"Sara…" he said warningly and finally raised his eyes to hers where he was shocked to be met by the tears glowing in the corners of her eyes. She gave a final defeated look, a quiet "ugh" and stormed out of his office and marched down the hallway.

Grissom looked back down to his paperwork and tried to tell himself it was for the best. She would find someone prefect for her, who deserved her, and who could offer her everything he couldn't. Then he would have to get over it. He had spent years training himself into believing this, so why did it just get harder and harder every time he saw her. He knew deep down that Catherine was right, he would have to do something, if it went on as it was things would only get worse. On instinct he desperately wanted to fix things, for both of them. But somewhere nearer the top of his conscience was suppressing this instinct firmly.

He took his glasses off sticking the end of them into his mouth and attempted to outstare the glazed eyes of miss piggy for several moments with no success.

Sara sat in her car and dropped her head forward onto the steering wheel .The tears that had been threatening to overcome her fell and there seemed to be no stopping them. Maybe It was just hormones- not that she really wanted to resort to blaming them- but the release she felt with the tears just letting them out was just what she needed. There didn't seem any good reason for her to be like this which was what annoyed her most. She never normally cried like this. It was a weakness that she did not like and a lack of control that she couldn't hold it in at least until she got home.

Un-known to her Grissom was watching the entire scene playing out from the other side of the car park. He watched her back shake from the racking sobs. It made him want to run to her, hold her, make all her pain disappear. Instead he turned and headed back into the building, he still couldn't bring himself to go to her. He went out there to find her, to try and talk. Seeing her like that only served as a reminder of just why he had to steer clear, she was better off if he kept well out the way.

Sara meanwhile dragged herself out of her own reverie rubbing her hand over her face. She knew she must look a wreck. It disgusted her the way she simply couldn't appear to stop herself from falling for him every time. She knew how he felt, his job was far more important to him than she was and she would just have to live with that. She'd heard it loud and clear and tried to deny it to herself for too long.

She figured why tell him when he just doesn't want to know. In a strange way it fitted in well with her original plan, of waiting until everyone knew anyway. She was just going to wait until it was necessary, whenever that was. The threat of exposure by Catherine still worried her, how would she be able to keep something this big to herself?

Catherine walked confidently into Grissom's office that evening. "I don't get it, what about all that 'Blessed are the Peacemakers' stuff in the bible? The woman keeps a gun for gods sake."

Nick followed her close behind. "People sometimes pick and choose the rules by which they live their life, maybe she decided to neglect the 'Do not kill' commandment."

"I still don't get it. Aren't religious people normally totally non-violent?"

Grissom looked up at the pair who were now standing in front of his desk. "The Bible is very contradictory on the subject of violence and war. In the New Testament Jesus encourages peace. Such as 'Don't repay evil with evil' or talk about bending swords into ploughshares. The Old Testament often encourages war and retaliation. 'An eye for an eye' for example. Among Christians it's one of the difficult issues. "

"The Bible doesn't condone murder though does it? That's more about defending yourself, rather than outright attack."

"Do you have proof this woman did it?" Grissom calmly looked over his glasses at Nick who sagged a little at the lack of encouragement. Nick sighed.

"Not yet. But If we can get a warrant for 'Bible lady's' house, we can check for the manure on her shoes, it would either rule her out, or confirm her as a suspect." He was beginning to show the signs of frustration. "She says the gun is for her protection, she won't give it to us to test though which is suspicious, but we still don't have anything to get us a warrant."

"Except the fact that she is just creeps everyone out." Catherine added with a ironic smile.

"That she 'Creeps you out' is not basis for a warrant. You're going to have to bring the judge more than that."

Nick sighed loudly leaning against the shelving to his left.

"Yeah, I know that, we're working on it."

A/N – All that stuff about religion, pulled right from the depths of GCSE RS… I apologise for any mistakes, I actually burnt all my notes so that lot was entirely from memory.


	6. Chapter 3 point 5

Chapter 3.5 – 

A/N – This is basically a cruddy little filler chapter, so I'm sorry 'bout that hides. It's just tying up some loose ends. I swear it will improve from here on out. I have been a little swamped recently, but will do my very best to get the next chapter out pronto for you guys. Thank you so much for your encouragement.

Shift the next day brought new information and new leads. "We've got those DNA samples back, and not surprisingly the semen matches our Vic." Grissom informed the rest of the team as they sat in the break room at the beginning of the next shift. "It gives strong motives to both the wife and mistress."

He seemed edgy and no one was quite sure what was to blame. He ran through his words swiftly not looking directly at anyone. Sara simply kept her head down and did her best to ignore the obvious tension and pretending that it was nothing to do with her. If she was honest she knew that, that was a total lie, and also knew that if she looked at anyone else in the room they would probably see through her facade. They were trained investigators after all. Avoidance seemed a very good course of action for the moment.

Greg eventually broke the silence of the room that no-one else seemed willing to attempt. "Who wants to be cheated on with a horse? It's got to be the worst scenario for a girl." He noted with a hint of a grin and glanced briefly at Catherine with an eyebrow raised. The looks he gained from the rest of the group were enough to shut him up and he gave a light shrug turning back towards Grissom.

"We have positive confirmation that the manure in the treads of the wife's shoes was from the stables. It contains the same traces of earth." Grissom looked back down at the notes in his hand and spoke again without even looking up.

"Nick, Sara go and talk to our Vic's wife again, see if you can't get anything else of use from her. Warrick and Catherine, you take the Mistress, we don't have a warrant for her house, but you can but at least try, see if she will submit to a search willingly. I have some paperwork to be doing, check back with me when you're done." Grissom immediately turned and marched out of the room leaving a quiet group behind him.

Warrick and Catherine shared a covert look, and eventually Warrick shrugged "I'll see you out at the car in a minute," he murmured, before wandering off to the locker room. The blonde nodded in confirmation and she too made her way out of the room leaving the others to make their way to their scene.

When Nick and Sara arrived they made their way up the drive. Nick was getting a distinct sense of deja-vu; Jean Wiesman was already stood in the doorway watching them. He was beginning to think she did nothing but stand guard by her window. Although considering some of her husband's activities, he wasn't really surprised that she was a little suspicious. He would be in the same position.

"I imagine you want to talk to me again." She met and held his stare, essentially ignoring Sara completely. "I thought you took all you needed the last time."

"Not quite." Nick paused.

"We just need to talk to you, and take another quick look around." Sara made an attempt to at least gain a little of the woman's attention. Mrs Wiesman simply scrutinized her for a moment before turning back into her home.

"Do you want coffee?" she directed over her shoulder. Nick looked at the brunette who gave him a weak smile and motioned that he should follow the woman's path. As they entered the kitchen Jean meandered around pulling things out of cupboards seemingly at random. She didn't appear to keep any two things in the same place. The kitchen was cluttered but strangely organized, in that she appeared to know exactly where everything was none-the-less.

Eventually she handed a mug each to the two CSI's and motioned for them to sit down at the large table in the centre of the room.

"I really don't know what else I can tell you. I knew what he did, and I assume by now that you do too. I always assumed, mistakenly, that he would realise what he had with me and that he would come back. That maybe it was just a phase he was going through."

"We found manure from the livery stables in the treads of your shoes; you told us that you had never been there."

She took a sharp breath letting it out steadily keeping her eyes down on the table. "I followed him once; it was right at the beginning, I never went again. It was… uh, unnerving… to see him like that." She kept looking down at her folded hands on the table rubbing her thumbs along the backs of the opposite hands.

Nick felt for the woman a little. There are some things that you don't like to admit to, and he could see how she might have ignored the issue hoping that it would resolve itself. There was something about her that made him trust her. It wasn't something he found happened very often.

Sara was watching her coffee with a slightly odd expression - probably remembering she wasn't supposed to drink it – and so missed Nick's failed attempts to drag her back to the present. Until she felt a sharp kick in the shin and finally looked up nodding and hoping it looked like she had been paying even the slightest bit of attention. She immediately pushed the coffee away from her and turned her thoughts back to the woman next to her, no need to make people unduly suspicious.

Warrick and Catherine had a little more luck. The woman as expected refused their request to search her house. But they weren't really expecting anything less from her. It was rare to find someone who actually submitted to a search of their home willingly. Who really wanted strangers prodding through their possessions? Catherine knew that she would hate to have people invading her home like that, even if it was necessary. She still had very little sympathy for the woman who she was fairly sure had recently killed a man, and appeared to feel no remorse.

Although they were not able to search her home they were able to search her garbage, which was outside the perimeter of her property. This being where they found a plastic bag containing a set of clothes. Catherine stood a little way back and watched as Warrick delved into the depths of the trash can, taking time to admire the view while she was waiting. Why not while it was there?

"What else are you expecting me to find in here?" Warrick' muffled voice from somewhere down at the floor level.

Catherine decided that now might be a good time to go out on a limb. "Do you see any shoes in there?"

"Nada." Warrick fished around in the bottom of the trash can for a few more moments before smiling triumphantly and producing something and presenting it to Catherine with an optimistic glint in his eyes. "Will this do though?"

"Brass is bringing the mistress in for questioning again. If the epithelia inside the shirt match her, and the blood on the outside matches him it's a closed case."

"We don't have a DNA sample from her yet." Sara reminded her cautiously.

Catherine gave a tightly controlled smile and sipped carefully at her steaming coffee looking down at Sara, "You want to go watch the interrogation?"

"Might as well I guess. When is it?" Sara replied glancing over her shoulder at Catherine who was still standing in the doorway of the room watching her.

"About twenty minutes, so why don't we head over there"

The quick walk to the PD didn't allow much time for questions and Sara was glad, the 3rd degree from Catherine was definitely not what she needed right now, the looks she was getting made her think that if Catherine didn't get some pertinent information pretty soon she might explode.

Sara honestly doubted that there was anything she was going to be able to tell her that would be any different from what she suspected anyway. Even so admitting it out loud to anyone was not a test she needed to pass right now. That could still wait – up to seven months if necessary.

The woman entered the interrogation room her face the picture of serenity. If she was nervous it certainly didn't show. Her green eyes scanned the room and came to rest on the one way mirror, she seemed to stare right through it and it was a most disconcerting feeling to both on the other side. It was few suspects who actually looked right at the glass, and Sara had always found it a very odd feeling when they did.

"We know what you did" Detective Vartaan, never one to sugar coat things, got straight to the point. "We have your shirt, Gunshot residue, and his blood all over it," Truthfully they didn't have the evidence to back that up yet, but she didn't need to know that. The DNA would be back in a couple of days

"I can't think what you're talking about." The woman smiled mysteriously and tucked a strand of her shoulder length hair carefully behind an ear.

"You killed him. Maybe you finally realised what his wife already knew; only you took out your shock in a slightly different manner."

Grissom stood from the other side of the table placing the bag containing the clothes onto the table. "These, were found in your trash. Blood splattered clothes don't look good, especially as we can prove that you were wearing them when the blood got onto them."

"High velocity splatter like this, needs a high impact hit to produce them. Like a gunshot. You would have had to be stood only feet away from the gun, and him to produce this effect." He paused and looked at her for a moment. "Your epithelia's are all over the inside of the shirt."

"You can't be sure of that."

"Actually, we can." Brass stood up. "You see we didn't need a warrant for a DNA sample. We got it for free when we went through your garbage. Get a new toothbrush recently?" The woman's demeanour changed in an instant. It always creeped Sara out more than she would have liked to admit, that someone she might pass in the street without a second look, could suddenly turn like that. It was a scary idea and it made her look at people in a whole different light. It was one of the downsides of the job, made you look at mankind in a much more jaded sense.

"I was simply doing what was right." The woman stated a satisfied smirk growing on her face. "It is one of the laws; I was just putting it into practise, something that should have been done years ago."

"There is no law allowing the murder of a man." Vartaan assured her.

"Gods laws hold no bounds, if I do his command he will protect me." She leaned back into her chair and continued slowly. "It is written that any man who lies with a beast; shall be put to death, and the beast too. I was helping him; and you." Detective Vartaan gave her a disbelieving look.

"I think you'll find that law was reformed." Grissom added.

Vartaan waved a hand at the officer who was stood in the corner of the room. He immediately moved and began to cuff the woman and led her from the room while Grissom watched on and shook his head silently.

TBC --- 


	7. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – 

A/N – This chapter goes out to Nerwen; because she's been waiting for this part for _ages_. This is where the clichés start dropping all over the place.

I just saw the promo for "Stacking Dolls", so picture me squee-ing away happily to myself! Nothing motivates me to write quite like imminent GSR. :D

In the following weeks Sara was questioned innumerate times by Catherine as to when she would tell "Him". Sara really had no idea if the other CSI really knew who -and what- she was asking about, or was just pushing her for information. It could have been either and she still wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of getting any details from her, or of being right. It was a fact that she was happy to be keeping to herself for the time being.

At nearly four months along it was beginning to be a problem finding jeans that actually fitted, and tops that would hide the bump that seemed to grow daily. She had known that it would happen eventually, but now it was- obviously- visible, she was still more than a little shell shocked.

Sara let out a deep breath and studied her figure carefully. They were going to guess eventually and it was becoming more and more difficult to disguise. She didn't really want to resort to maternity clothes just yet but there was only so far her present ones would take her and baggy tops would hide. She ran her fingers slowly over her abdomen; it was something she still had to do to convince herself she wasn't imagining it, that she wouldn't wake up eventually to find it was just some bizarre dream.

She was surprised that no one at work had noticed yet and that the resident rumour mill in the lab hadn't picked it up and spread it like wildfire. Perhaps people did know, and it had just not been directed at her just yet. People were bound to speculate once the truth invariably came out; and Sara was not sure she was at all ready to face the questions or the rumours that would come to the surface. There were some things that she liked keeping well out of public knowledge, this was now one of those things. She still hadn't even told her parents- that choice alone was bound to cause her trouble in the long.

Fortunately things had been so incredibly busy around the lab lately that nobody there seemed to have time to notice anything much about her. That cutting back she was supposed to be doing was just not happening. Grissom would start to notice her overtime racking up eventually and would put a stop to it. She would have to do something before it came down to that.

Sara had only a moment to reflect on this before her pager began to bleep insistently. It was her first night off in over a week, and inwardly she groaned. Back to work. She couldn't really ignore it without good reason, and much as she knew she should warn Grissom from an administrative point of view, she couldn't quite force herself to bring up the subject.

Sara walked into the break room, sat down at the end of the glass table, and immediately buried herself into a book. She didn't even look up at the entrance of the rest of the team and eventually Grissom who called the attention of the room to hand out assignments.

"I have a male DB in a motel on the strip, for Nick and Catherine. Warrick; you have a robbery up in Summerlin." Warrick groaned, muttering something inaudible at his luck, and leaned further back into his chair. Grissom watched him for a moment before he continued. "Sara and I have a body in a tree, let's go." His new style of abrupt assignment handling was becoming almost normal; he seemed to be keeping himself at a distance from all of them, not just her.

There was something different about his in recent weeks; resigned, more antisocial- if that was possible. She didn't doubt that she was essentially the catalyst for this sudden change, and not in a good way. Catherine was going to call her on it sooner or later, she would have to think of something before then.

The group were about to set off in their separate directions when an audible gasp from Sara echoed around the quiet room. All gazes turned to her; a nervous grin forming on her face. Her hand rested gingerly on her stomach. The only person to whom this had any significance was Catherine, who gave her a knowing look and a restrained smile.

"Sorry, I uh… just realised I… forgot something" She smiled briefly once more and speedily left the room. Nick simply raised his eyebrows and decided he didn't want to know before following Catherine who had just meandered out into the corridor. Warrick and Grissom shared a look before also leaving the room.

It had kicked, actually kicked. Ok so not in the best of places, or situations; and her explanation had definitely been lacking in the creativity department. But that couldn't be helped. She had been so surprised by the bubble of movement that she hadn't really thought much about her surroundings. She was going to have to tell them _all_sooner or later, it's not like she would be able to hide things too much longer.

The Denali suddenly made a sharp left hand turn throwing her into the door to her right. They headed east down a tiny dirt track, leading towards a small group of stunted looking trees. The setting sun gave her enough light to make an odd, dark shape out in one, which Sara was assuming was their reason for being there. She leaned her head against the cool glass, and took a deep breath as she felt a slight movement in her stomach once more. She realised that it was definitely going to take time to get used to this; meanwhile she wasn't sure how she was supposed to concentrate on her work. Not a problem she often came across. At least she was not gasping out loud anymore- one thing to be thankful for.

The movement was what made it really real, of course she knew that it was real - but in these situations often it simply doesn't seem to sink in, until much later than you would expect. The Denali pulled to a stop and as they got out of the car they were greeted by Brass striding towards them. "Oh the pair of you are going to enjoy this one." he called and motioned towards the pair to go towards him. "Girl up a tree: no idea; who she is, how she got there, or who did it. An enigma of giant proportions for you two…. Well, have fun. I have get going- so it will just be you and Officer Price here. It's been a busy night for criminals in Las Vegas," Brass then waved vaguely over his shoulder and promptly left. As the dust settled Sara voiced the question they had both been thinking, but neither had wanted to mention just yet.

"How exactly are we supposed to get this body down then?" asked Sara looking slightly worried already. The officer didn't seem to be the hard stomached type and had gone to sit in the car so he was just near enough to help if anything happened but probably not going to be any help getting the body down. "Could Brass not have let us borrow a few of his people to help us?" She fidgeted apprehensively, folding her arms across her stomach and gripping her sides tightly. She was feeling vaguely unsettled about the situation as it was- this was not looking good.

"Well we are going to have to go up there I guess. The coroner won't be back for another hour or so to help remove the body so until then we have to go up there to do our collection." His matter of fact tone worried Sara. Why was he so calm about this?

Grissom turned to Sara, and looked expectantly at her, while she turned even paler than normal. Sara's mind raced through a million different scenarios, none of them good. Already she was getting visions of falling, of losing the baby. As much as she was scared of her situation early on, she was now terrified of the loss of something that she was yet to know.

She tried desperately to sound nonchalant, "I don't get paid enough to climb trees. I'm keeping both my feet firmly on solid ground, thanks all the same." She cringed silently knowing that an outburst would undoubtedly follow, but what else could she reasonably do? She knew that refusing him was not a good idea, relationship or not, he was still her boss, and held way too much power over her for her liking. It was just too dangerous for her to be climbing trees at the moment. It was at times like this she wished she had been honest and just told him weeks ago. It would have saved this awkward moment, but she theorised it would probably have created many more.

"You won't do it, Why not?" Grissom asked her with a disbelieving look, his voice growing low with the veiled anger building behind it. Sara looked up uncertainly at the tree, hugging herself tightly, almost as if the action itself could protect her.

"Do I need a reason? It's dangerous and I don't want to go up there. "Her quiet explanation was in complete contrast to the stony look engraved on her face, it was a last ditch attempt if nothing else. The pair each seemed to be attempting to stare the other down. It was definitely one of those 'if-looks-could-kill' situations. They were about as stubborn as each other, and something like this could go on forever before one or the other gave up.

Sara watched him stonily, her first thought was to tell him it was all, 'his fault', a statement which was not entirely true- and it seemed rather childish to say the least. She had after all played her part in getting herself into this situation. She would have liked to see the look on his face if she said that, but decided that would probably be a bad idea.

Finally Sara broke the silence with a quiet but firm voice, "Give me your hand". Grissom hesitated "You want my reason then just give me your hand". He extended his hand slowly palm up, only to have it grabbed by Sara and placed securely onto her swollen stomach where the baby had kicked just moments before.

Only a couple of seconds later it kicked once more under the firm pressure of his hand. Grissom's bewildered stare became one of understanding, and then finally shock. "That's why." She pulled away from him then, and swiftly strode back towards the waiting Denali leaving Grissom standing, alone, stock still in the dappled shade of the overhanging tree.

A/N - I shouldn't really leave you all there should I? I'm all with the speedy updates at the moment so I doubt you will be waiting too long.


	8. Chapter 4 point 5

Chapter 4.5 – 

A/n - See, speedy update!

Thanks to all of you for your reviews. You guys never fail to make me smile. I think it's the first time I've had a review where someone has started with 'Oh, Holy Crap', and yeah, I do love to torture you guys sometimes. :evil grin:.

He simply continued to stand, unmoving, and stare seemingly blindly at the rocky ground by the roots of the tree. His mind was still trying to put all the pieces into place, he knew what he had felt, but was still having exceptional difficulty in grasping the entire concept.

'Sara was pregnant?' The thoughts were whirling around Grissom's brain so fast the fixing on one was more difficult than he could have imagined. His first comprehensible thought being 'how could he not have noticed?' The second surprisingly was, 'was it his?' Something he would later consider should have been his first thought. A little of the doubt and disbelief he had first felt when he felt the movement were creeping back in. Maybe he was imagining things - it could have been anything, right? Something in him knew that this was probably not true, but he kept running over the possibility none-the-less. It was better not to make assumptions about things you didn't know.

As a scientist he knew he should know enough about these things to work out the chances, but when it came down to it; he could barely think straight enough to work it out. Having done some mental calculations as best he could under the circumstances he figured it was distinctly possible, almost he would say- a certainty. That he was the father of Sara's baby.

That was unless Sara had been seeing somebody in the last few months, somebody who Grissom had not yet heard about. He thought about the possibility briefly and decided in the end that it was highly unlikely. Sara was hardly the type to just jump straight into bed with another man. At least, not that he knew of; then again, what did he really know?

When his brain had slowed down enough to consider another thought, then came the why. Why didn't she _tell_ him? He was going to be a father, so why did she not say anything? She could have at least found a way to tell him something as significant as that. He shook himself out of his trance, closed his mouth, and turned to follow the direction Sara had gone.

He found her sat on the ground her back against the wheel of the car apparently deep in thought. As he thought back over the past few weeks, all the clues were slowly dropping into place in his brain. Things that had no significance at the time were now put into context, and made perfect sense.

It was only a few days ago that she had disappeared very rapidly, right in the middle of super-gluing a wallet. It was only now that he realised why. The fumes were bound to be bad for her, if his suspicions were correct. He had assumed at the time that she had, had been paged by someone, or needed to look up on another piece of evidence. Now he realised the real reason behind her reactions. She had been protecting herself and her child - his child.

His initial anger had dispersed into more a feeling of regret and concern. He crouched carefully on the hard dusty ground beside her and the pair sat in silence for several minutes. He would never tell her but the thought she might be carrying his baby made him happier than he ever would have thought. He didn't want to think how it would feel for him if it turned out it was another man's. Being a parent was one of the things he had never really considered as he'd never found the right woman, he had never expected it would ever happen to him.

Grissom took a deep breath and let it out steadily before he began to speak. He wasn't sure how to confirm his thoughts, without the possibility of offending Sara, or making a fool of himself. It seemed he would just have to take the risk and hope for the best.

"I'm guessing it's mine?" Grissom asked quietly, resting his arms onto his knees as he crouched down beside her. She glanced over at him but there was no affront in her gaze. At least she hadn't taken it like he thought she slept around, one thing to be thankful for.

"Unless there's something that I really don't know about, then yes." She looked at the ground again and began drawing small swirling patterns in the dirt beside her foot. "I know what you're thinking and I don't want anything from you if that's what you're worried about. I can manage just fine on my own." There was another short silence.

Grissom looked up swiftly at her words, from where he had been watching her trailing her fingertips through the dry earth, to her face so he could observe her reactions. "That's not what I was thinking," he muttered. "Why didn't you tell me? You could have said something"

"I tried when I found out and you didn't want to listen." She still refused to look up and meet his eyes.

Grissom dropped his head. "I'm sorry. I know that doesn't help now. But really I am."

Tears were building in Sara's eyes, threatening to overflow. She turned her head away slightly to hide them resting her forehead on her hand.

Grissom stretched out his hand slowly, he was afraid of her response and how easily it could hurt him. His touch was gentle and caressed her cheek wiping away the tears that fell there. The electricity between them was undeniable, it always had been. As he drew his hand away Sara's caught hold of it once more and rested it on her bent knee still holding his hand with her own.

It was then the coroners van began to approach the scene to remove the body. Grissom stood still holding Sara's hand and reached the other down to pull her up to him. "We should get this body dealt with, but then we need to talk." Sara nodded mutely and their eyes met, just for a moment and she swore she could see a sparkle behind them that she hadn't seen before. He turned and walked away from her before she could consider what it was she had seen. She shook her head wearily; like that would happen.

David exited the van, along with a forensic assistant whose name Grissom could not recall. "So have you two got what you need to?" David asked.

"Not yet. I was waiting for your help to get the evidence from up there. I can't get up there by myself." Sara jerked her head up at his simple words and met his eyes once more. He had reined his emotions in enough that she could not read him anymore, it was like they had just been talking about the weather.

David and Grissom turned and with the help of the forensic assistant and a ladder Grissom was soon sat precariously on one of the upper branches of the tree. David looked expectantly towards Sara. "I-I'm uh… sitting this one out I'm afraid, keeping myself at ground level." She gave him a rueful smile and started to collect some of the more accessible evidence.

Crouching down was starting to become difficult, not that she would ever admit it to anyone. She was distinctly uncomfortable and knew that she wouldn't have been able to keep doing this kind of work for too much longer without arousing suspicion. At least it was out in the open now, or almost. There was still the rest of the team to think about, they would find out soon enough. There were obviously still a lot of things they would have to discuss.

There didn't appear to be anything worth collecting down on the ground from the look of it. Sara had taken a sample of the soil and found one partial footprint, but it didn't appear that their perp had left them a whole lot to go on. There was a coin which was probably entirely unrelated, no possible weapons of any kind, and no foreign trace material that she could find. After hours of fruitless searching even a dedicated CSI like Sara had to admit she was getting nowhere, something which always frustrated her no end.

In the end she simply decided that their simply wasn't anything else to find, packed her kit up again and made her way across the scene to where Grissom and David were talking. The body had been removed, and with David's help Grissom had been able to collect several samples of trace and a couple of fibres from otherwise unreachable areas. David smiled shyly at Sara and nodded her with a greeting, before leaving them to take the body back to the morgue.


	9. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – 

_A/N - The next chapter won't be done until my exams are over. This takes a backseat to my university applications I'm afraid. Sad but true. _

The car journey back to the lab was quiet to say the least. In the end Sara had been forced to turn the radio on, the thought of having to make small talk not at all appealing under the circumstances. She was grateful for the fact that he had taken her revelation far better than she had expected. He hadn't blamed her, or had a fit of panic as yet. But thinking about it, it had probably not fully sunk in for him yet. After all it had taken her months to truly get used to the idea. He couldn't be expected to grasp the entirety of it within minutes. He would surely lose the plot once he actually slowed down enough to think about the implications of this development on his life - on both of their lives. Whether he liked it or not there was now a bond between them, one that was not going to go away.

The two CSI's dropped off several pieces of evidence at the lab; including several blood samples and a hair to Greg, and some trace material from the victim's jacket to Hodges, before leaving again. It was the middle of shift so how they were going to explain away their absence she didn't know. Sara was also not entirely sure where they were going, and didn't like to ask. She was more than a little surprised when they turned off the main road into a quiet residential street. She didn't recognise Grissom's townhouse until they were right outside it, having not been there for a couple of years at least. She quickly glanced across at Grissom; who appeared not to notice her surprise - or if he did he wasn't about to say anything. He simply parked the car and motioned for her to follow him.

She knew he had said they would talk. What she had not known was that it would be this soon, or that this was what he had in mind. She wanted a little more time to plan out what she was going to say, this was not the kind of thing you could come up with on the spur of the moment, and get your true feelings across. Also, had she had a choice, she would have chosen somewhere far more neutral. Being in his house would cloud her judgement far more than she would have liked. Then again, at least if she was here she could just leave if it became too awkward.

He turned the key to get into his townhouse and held the door open as Sara entered. She gave him a brief smile before looking past him at the room. "Would you like something to drink?" He asked as he gestured for her to sit.

Sara nodded slowly, letting her gaze float over the main room picking out several areas of interest. "Just a glass of water," she murmured, walking slowly around his glass coffee table and looking casually at the contents of his bookshelves. Grissom nodded and wandered through to the kitchen island, dropping his keys into a bowl on the sideboard as he passed.

Sara had found recently that the best thing about working graveyard was that no one questioned her for wearing thick coats or fleece most of the time, but in Grissom's warm - if a little sterile - home she was forced to remove at least two of her layers. The top she had on beneath was thin and tight enough that her swelling belly was now fairly obvious. Even though she realised he already knew about it for some reason being this - exposed - still worried her. She had grown used to hiding herself for so long, it almost seemed strange not to. She put her coat and jumper across the arms of the sofa and walked towards the collection of butterflies she found mounted on the wall. She ran a finger hesitantly over the frame.

Grissom re-entered the room with two glasses of water and walked to where Sara was stood, lost in thought, staring at the butterflies. He placed the glasses on the side table and hesitantly brushed his fingers over the skin at her shoulders. Sara shivered at the contact and spun to face him. Her skin was tingling where he had touched her and his glow of his blue eyes shone in the half light of the room. They scanned her figure taking in the new curves that came with her pregnancy with a sense of wonder, and unless she was imagining it joy. It re-awakened dreams she had, had when she had first found out she was pregnant; where everything would turn out well, dreams she had quickly banished to the back of her mind, for fears of getting her hopes up only to have them dashed.

She was still scared, there was the distinct chance he would tell her he wanted nothing to do with her. He hadn't said anything about how he felt about this turn of events. Just that she should have told him and that he was sorry. Not exactly the response she had hoped for. Although she had prepared herself for this sort of response it didn't make it hurt any less. She had primed herself as well as she could, but now she was here she knew that no amount of preparation would allow her to keep her emotions behind that wall if he turned her away.

His eyes met hers and she felt as if they could see through her. See into the recesses of her heart like no one else could. The amount of control he had over her scared her, and yet he made her innumerably happy in equal measure whenever he was near.

"Are you happy?" Grissom murmured a look of concern and fear flitted across his features. "…about this, in any way?"

"I could be." Sara replied quietly her eyes falling from his to gaze at the floor in contemplation. Before he could stop himself Grissom had taken a step closer to her and rested his forehead against her his warm breath fanned her face. Her hands entwined with his. There was something that always drew him to her, a magnetism that was more trouble than he had ever thought it could be.

"Griss," Sara breathed she took a deep cleansing breath before continuing "You and I both know that this scenario never ends well." It felt to her, despite her words, that it was exactly right - and lord knew it was what she wanted. But it seemed that sense prevailed and Grissom slowly pulled back and guided her over to the sofa handing her a glass of water. Her lips twitched as she smiled her thanks.

"Does anyone else know?" He asked quietly. He guessed that the number of people who were aware of the whole story would be tiny but thought he should check, just in case. He wanted to be aware of what he could say and to whom.

"Just my doctor and Cath, and I haven't said much. I think she probably has some ideas of her own though." She took a sip of her water and with her free hand reached down towards her bag digging around for a moment before producing a copy of a sonogram picture and handing it to Grissom. "You can keep that. I have another copy." Sara paused before continuing. "How about you, are you? …Happy I mean?"

"More than you will ever know." Grissom said quietly without missing a beat. Sara's heart leaped at his words. His response meant more to her than she had realised and that it was positive made her face glow with relief before clouding over once more. There was another pause before she voiced her final question.

"Then why do you push me away?" her voice cracked betraying her inner anguish. There was something missing from his quiet admission, and she didn't like to think what it might mean. His whole demeanour was betraying a different story than his words were telling. It was not a comforting insight.

"For all the reasons we've always talked about, but that doesn't mean I ever wanted to." He reached his hand over once more to hold hers. "I would never want to hurt you. I thought I was protecting you, protecting myself." He exhaled slowly, still gripping the sonogram in his right hand. "You have to know that."

He gently put his arm around her and pulled her form tightly against his chest. She relaxed into him knowing that was exactly where she wanted to be. It made her feel completely safe for the first time in a long while. She knew somewhere inside that it probably would not last, it never did - but for the moment it felt pretty damn good. She also knew that it would hurt all the more when he forced himself to walk away.

She knew there were things they desperately needed to talk about but she couldn't bring herself to break the comfort zone that they seemed to have entered for the moment. Later - they could talk later.

_A/N - Yeah, they will get to this talk eventually. I'm procrastinating so badly, and I know it. I hate writing deep conversations. They always turn out so cheesy. _


	10. Chapter 5 point 5

Chapter 5.5 - 

A/N: I don't really like this story but just to prove that I do still listen to your requests for updates on this thing. I need the occasional bit of prodding when I forget, that's all. :)

oooooooo

When Sara next woke she found her movement blocked by something that turned out to be Grissom's arms surrounding her body. One arm was draped over her side, where he was gently tracing circles on her hand with his thumb; the other resting lightly on her stomach. She could almost feel his relaxed smile even though she could not see it. It felt as if she hadn't slept as well as she had in those few hours in years. Which when she thought about it, was probably the truth.

The stress of everything over the past few months had certainly taken its toll. She felt it. Getting it off her chest was probably one of the best things she could have done. Keeping a secret like that, for that long is not healthy. She should know that. She had always thought that it was easy enough to keep things from people. Just keep quiet. She used to be quite good at that. This secret was bigger than most though, which may not have helped.

They both simply lay there for several minutes, basking in the relaxed atmosphere. They had always seemed to be able to communicate everything that they felt without needing the clichés that often seemed to come with words. A touch or a look conveyed everything that words could not, even if these were sometimes misinterpreted by both parties. It was a flaw in the system, but hopefully one that could be sorted out with a little work. If he wanted to work on it that was.

Sara was sure that the discomfort would kick in soon enough. It usually did. She took a deep breath. The subject had to be broached eventually. Better to try now rather than wait until later, when she would have probably lost the nerve. It might be easier when she was still in a half dreamlike state. She needed that kind of comfort right now.

"What should I tell them all? I don't have to say it's yours if you don't want." She murmured. She tipped her head back further into his chest breathing in the scent of whatever washing power he had used. She bit her lip almost wishing she hadn't said anything. She could imagine the response already, and it was not a cheerful thought.

"It's mine, and I wouldn't want it any other way. We'll just tell them. They're just going to have to get used to it." He softly kissed the top of her head. He didn't say anything for several moments. "Would you like something to eat?" Sara hadn't thought that his positive response would mean as much to her as it did. His reply was all she needed. It was all an approval, be it all but tacit, of their relationship. Not that they had ever really had one. It gave her hope that there might be one though, and that meant more to her than she would ever say.

"I can't manage anything more than toast right now. But that would be nice if you've got it." Grissom nodded, gently unwrapped himself from around her and pushed himself up from the sofa, "Sure, I'll see what I can find." His gaze lingered on her slightly tousled hair before he turned around, and walked out of her line of vision.

He wasn't entirely sure where this was going although he would be more than happy for it to stay exactly as it was right now. Problem was that he wasn't entirely sure that she felt the same way. It was a stalemate of sorts. Neither of them wanted to broach the subject. Fear of rejection seemed to prevail for both for various unspoken reasons. This state of miscommunication always seemed to cause a problem.

He returned to the room to find Sara had curled up and gone back to sleep. Grissom simply sat and watched her. Her mouth was moving slightly as if she were talking without sound in her sleep. It brought a small smile to his face, he couldn't help it.

Isn't it said that you know you love someone when you can spend the entire night, just sitting, watching them sleep. It was only now that he could really see how this was possible.

He carefully scooped his arms under her sleeping form and cradling her into his body he lifted her gently and transported her into his room laying her gently out on his bed pulling the covers up to her chin and kissing her on the forehead once more before seating himself on a chair across the room.

oooooo

It was not long before Sara woke again, normally she slept no more that four or five hours a night at the most, eight hours was almost a record for her. The warm cocoon that was surrounding her relaxed her in a way she had never felt before. It did not take her long to realize that she wasn't in her own bed; nor was she on Grissom's sofa anymore. Rather in his bed. It surprised her that such a private person as Grissom had voluntarily put her into his own bed. It was somewhere she had never been before, and hoped it might be somewhere she would be again, although she did worry that, that may be but a hopeless wish. She was still almost fully clothed, minus her shoes and jacket and seeing as there was only an hour or so until the beginning of shift figured it might be a very good idea to go home, have a shower and change. Showing up in the same clothes as she had worn yesterday might look a little suspicious. As if they didn't already doubt her responses.

She saw him sat in the chair across the room and it saddened her that it seemed he didn't even want to be in the same bed as her, after everything she thought he might have at least stretched himself to that. He'd still rather sit across the room. She pushed herself up put on her shoes and found her jacket before leaving a brief note stuck to the pillow. She took a quick look back when she reached the doorway, just to be sure he was still asleep, and carried on.

Sara spent the entire drive to her apartment in deep contemplation. Perhaps she should have woken him, told him she was going. A note seemed a little impersonal. She had of course by now locked herself out and couldn't really do anything about it, but worried unnecessarily all the same. She checked her watch, cursing briefly when she realized just how little time she had left herself for a turn-around. She still had a ten minute drive to her apartment, a shower and various other routine tasks before getting herself back to work. This was going to be tough to fit in.

Taking what must have been the quickest shower in existence; she made herself look vaguely presentable, she gave little thought to what she was wearing, and grabbed a peanut butter sandwich for 'breakfast' as she ran straight out the door again.

She considered that this was probably the reason she was so tired. Pregnancy or no, this lifestyle had to be having an impact. She would have to worry about slowing down later, just later. She figured that it would have become a problem before now if it was ever going to.


	11. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – 

Disclaimer – Not mine. Never will be… I just like to have a little fun with them.

A/N: Sorry, long time no update. You can thank Marlou's bribery of me with Eric Szmanda and cherries for this one.

ooooo

It would be the one day that she was this late, that there were no parking spaces anywhere wouldn't it? She considered it just her bad luck of the moment. Sara pulled her fingers through her hair to straighten it out a little and speed walked into the break room, just ten minutes late in the end. She was surprised that she had even made it in that quickly.

"Sorry, I had a little bit of a rush on tonight" The strange looks she gained from the rest of the nightshift made her stop and look around. "What? You lot have got to learn not to give me these weird looks it could really hurt my ego you know."

"You just got to stop giving us the reasons girl." Warrick smiled and raised and eyebrow at her. Sara gave a wry smile turned and folded her coat onto the back of the chair before turning back to the others. "So where are assignments?"

"Just waiting for you," Grissom stood in the doorway, "-was wondering where you'd got to." Sara didn't miss the double meaning behind his words and blushed lightly.

"Sorry, had a busy day." She smiled slightly, a smile which was returned by him, and watched closely by Catherine who was quietly reading into the subtle body language.

Catherine's conclusion seemed to please her and she leaned into Sara who was sat beside her, "Nice to know you finally got round to it. Tell me when you tell the rest of them so I don't drop you in it." Catherine muttered under her breath, she gave Sara a wicked grin.

"You wouldn't" Sara whispered back her eyes widening.

"If you don't get on with it I might explode, two months is a long time for me to keep something like this under wraps." The two shared a silent battle of wills.

"Fine, later today." Sara relented. Their whispered conversation had not gone un-noticed by the men and their interest forced them to finish it a little earlier than Catherine had hoped.

"Right, we have only one crime of the moment, attempted arson at the palms. Nick, you finished up your case yesterday, I think?" Nick nodded slightly. "Right, then this is yours, you're working it solo. Have fun. Catherine you can help Sara and I. Warrick, I think you have some things to finish off, if not I have plenty of paperwork for you."

"That's ok, I'm sure I'll be able to think of something" Warrick chuckled slightly, before leaving he retorted. "Man, what a choice." The three remaining CSI's left the break room and started their journey down the corridor.

"Sara we have an ID from our girl up a tree, Robbins has her in autopsy now, you can fill Cath in on the way." I meanwhile have a pile of paperwork waiting for me, you know where I'll be if you need me." He gave an ironic smile and turned into his office. The women carried on with their journey to autopsy. "How did you know I told him?" Sara questioned she older woman as they entered Doc Robbins domain.

"It's the first time I've seen you take your coat off without a substantial top on underneath. I figured you weren't too worried about anyone finding out anymore." Catherine gave her a knowing look. "Four months right?" Before Sara could say anything Doc Robbins rounded the corner and both women were immediately silenced. Sara gave wide eyed look at Cath and a look of worry crossed her features.

"Hey Al, what've you got for us?" Cath broke the quiet of the room.

The older medical examiner hobbled deftly across the room towards a covered gurney with what the women assumed to be their victim. "Her name is Samantha Aster, 17, she was on the missing persons register. Her parents reported her missing 3 days ago. Rigours fixed, puts her TOD at about 18-20 hours ago, so you didn't find her that long after. Her tox report is pending but she doesn't have any signs of drug abuse or long term illness. From what I can see, she died from exposure probably was alive when she was left in that tree."

Robbins paused for a few seconds before continuing eyeing Sara closely.

"She has multiple breakages, one leg, several ribs and a fractured wrist, also quite a lot of defensive wounds on her hands."

"Sexual assault?" Catherine questioned.

"it would appear so. I've sent the kit to Greg." Robbins pulled the sheet back over the body. "I cant tell you for sure until the tox screen comes back what the cause of death is but I'll page you when I get it."

"Thanks." Sara muttered, rubbing her forehead distractedly and staring at the ground as she turned to leave.

"Oh, and Sara… Congratulations." Her head jerked up her eyes wide once more, catching his eyes with her own, and noting the cheeky grin on his face. He had known exactly what they were talking about. Sara smiled slightly back.

"See, that wasn't so difficult, was it?" Catherine said to the brunette by her side once they had arrived at Greg's lab where it appeared he had taken a break, so they simply stood to wait.

"That's only because I didn't have to say anything. I'm dreading Nick and Warrick, and Greg actually."

"He'll be so upset his dream girl's taken." Catherine said her hand over her heart in a mocking gesture. Sara gave her a look and gently cuffed her arm. "…actually, you're going to have to tell all these love-struck lab rats. I don't envy you." Catherine then turned a little more serious. "You know they're all going to speculate about the father. If Cavallo… or even Ecklie finds out about this you could both lose your jobs."

"I know that. That's why I'm not going to say anything. Can you just sit on it for a while?" Sara sighed "I'm not too worried about Nick, Warrick, or even Greg. But for the rest it's probably better not to say anything. The rumours are gonna fly enough as it is."

Catherine nodded. "You sure you don't want to sit down or something?"

Sara glared at her "I'm not fragile, besides, I can't sit down comfortably in these trousers anymore, they already don't do up properly."

"I think we need to get you some new clothes."

"No." Her firm response prompted a surprised eyebrow raise from Catherine. "I don't need to resort to that yet. It can wait." Sara could be stubborn but it was becoming obvious that she was avoiding admitting that anything had changed. She was keeping up her general pace, wearing her everyday clothes, and didn't appear to have any inclination to change.

"If you're having such issues with them why will you not just admit you need new ones?" Catherine gestured vaguely at her

"Need what?" Greg entered his lab and eyed the two women standing by his desk.

"What I need are my DNA results." Sara replied quickly. Her eyes went straight back to Catherine, who had evidently decided that today was probably not the day to test her boundaries.

Greg squinted at them a little. Sara's fixed smile did nothing to make their excuse more believable. "OK, well here they are, ran the results through CODIS, Nada. But I did get a hit on our very own PD database." Greg handed the results sheet to Sara who examined it carefully, Catherine leaning over her shoulder.

"Uh oh, we got war" Cath groaned slightly remembering the last time they had tackled members of law enforcement. It wasn't pretty, it was kind of a one rule for us one for everyone else kind of deal. Unfortunately they all knew what happened when you mess with cops. "This could be interesting."

"Thanks Greg."

As the two left Catherine made time to say "I'm still taking you shopping after shift." just loud enough that Greg could overhear. Sara glared at her.

"We'd better go tell Grissom we've got a fight on our hands."

Catherine entered Grissom's office to give him the news. Leaning both her hands on the desk she smiled deviously at the man across the desk. He took the end of his glasses from him lips in a typical gesture and appraised her carefully before phrasing his question. "I'm guessing you have news." He said in a way that hinted at something a little deeper.

Her smile grew wider. "I have that." Catherine paused before continuing more seriously. "I also know who the girl was and the guy who raped her. We have an in-house match. Ray Miller, LVPD; could cause us problems."

Grissom's face too fell slightly at the news. "We still have to follow it. The evidence takes it out of our hands." Catherine nodded resolutely.

"I'll go talk to Brass, have him brought in. I'll have a warrant for his home done later for you."


End file.
